The McLoughlin Gallery presents H2O

The McLoughlin Gallery presents “H2O” a three-person exhibition featuring
Liz Hickok, Bonnie Levinson and Sarah Ratchye

Works on view March 24 – April 30, 2016
Artist Reception March 31st 6-8pm

“Water records information, and while circulating throughout the earth distributes information. This water sent from the universe is full of the information of life...” ― Masaru Emoto, Japanese author, researcher and entrepreneur

San Francisco, CA (March 12th, 2016) – In this all female artist exhibition, the physical, spiritual and conceptual potentials of water are explored. H2O is an examination of each artists’ manifestation of a unique and innovative approach to exploring the ubiquitous nature of water.

With California facing one of the most severe droughts on record- the driest period in the state’s 163 years of recorded rainfall history- our collective conscience on the physical, spiritual and political value of water is more significant than ever. Scientists have long projected that humans are taxing the world’s water supply, with research is suggesting that in just 15 years time, half the world’s population could be living in areas of high water stress- places where there isn’t enough water to go around.

Sarah Ratchye’s works represent her fascination with the dreams and realizations of space exploration and the human desire for transcendence toward the divine. “Astronauts, having pierced heaven, achieved a physical transcendence, and as depicted in these works, an experience of the divine changed their relationship to the earth, the universe, and the earth-bound,” says Ratchye. Floating in a space of grace and alienation, the astronauts in Ratchye’s works signify the search for life (and thus water) outside Earth, and our urgency to find the next habitable planet able to sustain our H2O-bound fate. “Humans are far beyond their first rocket ride past the atmosphere,” states Ratchye. “Water was then and will continue to be necessary to our survival off the planet.”

Using ephemeral materials to create sculpture that is fleeting in nature, Liz Hickok is intrigued by the uncertainties of the urban landscape, inspiring her to “explore the temporal nature of various materials, whose traces can only be represented through documentary means”. Her Ground Waters series features miniature environments that have been flooded with a liquid solution, resulting in striking crystal constructions whose sharp formations are chemical in nature, referencing the pollutants that seep into our urban environment. In her similarly colorful Fugitive Topography series, Hickok works with gelatinous materials to reimagine urban landscapes. Water becomes an ingredient, shifting from transient to permanent, allowing the Jell-O to reach it’s destined gelatinous state. The result is an uncertain geological landscape that takes unexpected turns as it bends, glistens, and melts, revealing the hidden fragility of the familiar city grid.

“There’s something about water that attracts me over and over again,” says Bonnie Levinson, whose Alaska Pole series captures the interaction between water and sky, and the inherent abstraction and design that we create as interloper. An installation consisting of 20 individual photographs, the images were taken while on a small fishing boat in Alaska, where Levinson felt immediately drawn to capture the reflection she saw in the water. Through documenting this otherwise fleeting moment, Levinson reveals the character of nature and thus the dynamic and evolving relationship between our environment and ourselves. The dramatic contrast of colors play on the dichotomy of light and dark that is found within both water and sky, and the abstraction that becomes an object once it is a reflection on the water.